evcc vs FHEM
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted home automation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
evcc
Solar-aware electric vehicle charging controller
VS
FHEM
Perl-based server for home automation tasks
| Feature | evcc | FHEM |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 62 · Good |
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Perl |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,280 | ★ 22 |
| First released | 2019 | 2005 |
| Replaces | SmartThings | SmartThings |
What are evcc and FHEM?
evcc
evcc is an open-source EV charging controller that optimizes charging around solar production and electricity prices. It targets EV owners with solar or dynamic tariffs. It is deployed via Docker or a binary.
- Solar-optimized EV charging
- Dynamic tariff support
- Many wallbox integrations
- Home Assistant integration
FHEM
FHEM is a long-standing, GPL-licensed server for home automation used to control lights, heating, alarms, and many other devices. It supports a vast range of protocols through community modules.
- Vast protocol support
- Community module library
- Lightweight Perl server
- Long-term reliability
evcc vs FHEM: key differences
Evcc is written in Go, while FHEM is built with Perl. Licensing differs — MIT for evcc versus GPL-2.0 for FHEM. FHEM is the more established project (first released 2005), while evcc arrived in 2019. Evcc has the considerably larger community, at 7,280 GitHub stars versus 22.
Why pick each one
Choose evcc if…
- Maximizes solar self-use
- Wide hardware support
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Niche use case
- Requires compatible hardware
Choose FHEM if…
- Extremely mature
- Runs on modest hardware
Watch out for
- Dated, technical interface
- Configuration is arcane
Frequently asked questions
Is evcc or FHEM better?
evcc is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider FHEM if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are evcc and FHEM free and open-source?
Yes. evcc is licensed under MIT and FHEM under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run evcc and FHEM with Docker?
evcc: yes. FHEM: yes.